Knowing me, knowing you – aha!
Last week in the post about turning home working horrors into hurrays, Kyle Newman mentioned that extrovert and introvert home workers probably respond in different ways to the threat of becoming isolated.
Extroverts are generally understood to be outgoing people who like socialising and talking, whereas introverts we tend to think of as shy and retiring. In fact the words come from the Latin for turning outwards or inwards, so an extrovert replenishes their inner energy by turning out, often to other people, whereas introverts turn inwards to their own resources.
Just think about how you would spend your ideal evening after a heavy day’s work. The extrovert makes a beeline for the pub to tell all his friends about the idiots he has to deal with. The introvert looks forward to a quiet evening in, maybe reading or watching TV, alone or with close family.
The home working extrovert needs to be in touch with other people regularly to keep up their motivation and stay inspired. It’s important to recognise this so you can plan meetings as top priority. Home working is much more of a realistic prospect for you now that workhubs, coworking spaces and Jelly events are so accessible.
The more introvert personality may relish the idea of being able to work alone at home without interruption. I enjoy it most of the time but I still have to remember to schedule regular trips out or the horrible downward spiral sets in before I realise what’s happening. I find that one meeting a day is ample so I have plenty of time afterwards for reflection.
This kind of self-understanding is very powerful for home workers. We have the freedom and flexibility to organise our diary in exactly the way that suits us, once we understand our own preferences and habits. And understanding ourselves also helps us to understand the quirks of others and results in those ‘aha’ moments – usually as in ‘Now I know why that person gets on my nerves so much!’
(There’s much more information to help you spot personality traits and different ways of doing things in Chapter 2 of Work from Home).
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I’m a bit of an extrovert and I love bouncing ideas off other people and getting everyone motivated.
When I first started my own biz, I worked from home and saw clients at home, so I never got out. The thing I missed most about working in an office was the camaraderie.
So, I started to offer my services to companies and began to visit on a regular basis, just enough to be welcomed as part of the team but not so much that I was dragged into the office politics. A great balance!
I now love networking and meeting a whole range of business people. Although we all run different businesses, we have business in common.
You’re right, Heather, it’s all about balance. Everyone has a different need for company and stimulation and the great thing about home working is that once you know the balancing point, you can organise your life to suit, as you’ve done. Any sign of Jelly reaching you in Scotland?
More great food for thought Judy. I second what you say about it being important to have this self-understanding as a business owner that works from home. Once you have that you can then make sure you organise your work schedule appropriately to support your needs and preferences and ensure you stay motivated. Over-time you can also develop your opposing side so that you have access to both and in effect broaden your range.
If you don’t know whether you have an introverted or extroverted preference then it’s easy to find out by taking this simple personality profile ($5) at: http://p://www.personalitypage.com
Alternatively, if you’d like a more in depth understanding of how your preferences and strengths influence how you should operate in your business, who you need to be working/partnering with and your best strategy for generating wealth, then I’d highly recommend you invest in finding out your Wealth Dynamics profile. I found it immensely valuable myself, as do all of my business coaching clients. You can find out more and take the test at: http://www.wdprofiletest.com/?a_aid=cfdb7a17&a_bid=01b98ba9
I’d love to hear about what you learn. Have a great day! Kyle
Hi Kyle
That’s a very good point about developing the side you don’t use naturally. None of us are stuck with our natural traits – we can learn to use others to become more effective. And of course we often behave differently in different situations or with different people, so it’s simply a case of applying a behaviour in different circumstances.
I’ll be talking about Wealth Dynamics at some point. I’m a Mechanic according to that system and that knowledge has helped me to think more clearly about Work from Home Wisdom. What are you??
I absolutely love the idea of Jelly and I’m sure there are parts of Scotland that are enjoying its delights. I’ve not heard of any groups around here (I’m in Dumfries & Galloway) and everywhere in D&G is a very long way to get to. Jelly groups would be great in larger towns but by the time we’ve all travelled to meet up it would have been easier tweeting about our issue and getting a reply. I must admit I like the social interaction I get from facebook and twitter and on those days that I don’t get out and about, it really does help.
I know that Jelly is happening in Edinburgh, but that’s not much good to you unless you happen to be there anyway! What on earth did we do before social media? Go quietly mad? It’s amazing how connected you can feel by tweeting and so on. This has to be the best time so far to be working from home 🙂
I’m a bit of a hybrid. I’m a Creator/STAR. My primary profile is Creator, but my star score is actually the same, hence the hybrid, am stronger in Mechanic than in supporter though, so that brings my profile back slightly to the left making Creator the primary. So I’m up on the top of the square just like you. (If you’re reading this and have no idea what I’m talking about, then you can take a look at this link: http://www.movebeyond.net/uploads/wdknewman.pdf)
It’s been very enlightening learning about what that means me though. Both in terms of what my primary strength and role should be in my business, how I should focus on growing, who I should model/learn from and who I need to work with/support me to be truly successful.
Before that I was bouncing around between a few different strategies and wasn’t quite sure where to focus or what to focus. Wealth Dynamics solved that and has allowed me to get really clear, and therefore much more focused.
PS: Judy, ever thought about adding a re-tweet plugin to your blog. Would make it much easier to re-tweet your content. Check out Tweetmeme.
Another example of how self-knowledge makes for greater success. Often our talents and capabilities come so easily we don’t even realise we’ve got them. We just assume everyone operates in the same way.
Re the plugin, thanks for mentioning it, and for the link. Funnily enough it’s written on a piece of paper right next to me. Must broach the subject to my IT department (I think the coffees will be on me tomorrow!)